Multi-function sd card

ABSTRACT

A multi-memory SD card includes an enclosure having the outer dimensions of a standard SD card. Two separate SiP SD packages are provided along with two separate sets of electrical contacts each according to the SD standard to provide, in a single SD card bundle, the functions and performance of two SD cards. The SiP packages may both be full size SD format, or one may be a micro- or nano-SD card. The first and second SiP SD packages has the same or different capacity and/or speed, and the micro- or nano-SiP package is permanent or removable. An onboard battery and/or PCB may also be housed in the enclosure for configuring WiFi/RAID or backup.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Technical Field

This invention relates generally to removable non-volatile memory cards,particularly SD cards.

2. Related Art

Standard SD (secure digital) type cards are a non-volatile memory cardformat for use in numerous consumer and industrial portable devices forremovable flash memory applications. The SD Association sets forth theup-to-date SD standards for the industry and makes those standardspublicly available. Those standards define a variety of memory cardstorage capacity and speed formats that are tailored to the needs of avariety of different applications and include SDSC, SDHC, SDXC, andSDUC. The package size of SD cards are also standardized. The outsidedimension of a full size SD card (in mm) is 32×24×2.1. There are alsomicro-sized versions of SD cards with standard dimensions (in mm) of15×11×1.0, as well as a nano-sized SD cards.

Standard SD cards include a SD memory that is housed within a flat, thinrectangular enclosure (of the standard sizes noted above). FIG. 1illustrates a conventional SD card 10 having a SD memory 12 disposedwithin a cavity 14 of an enclosure 16. The SD memory 12 occupies lessthat the entire space or cavity 14 within the standard enclosure 16. InFIG. 1 it will be seen that the SD memory 12 occupies less than theupper half of the SD card enclosure cavity, with the lower half taken upby plastic structure of the enclosure. The SD memory 12 communicatesoutside of the enclosure 16 through a set of electrical externalcontacts 18 disposed on a board 20 on which the SD memory 12 is mounted.The contacts 18 are operative when connected to a corresponding set ofcontacts of a selected electronic device for transferring data to andfrom the SD memory 12 and the device.

Current SD cards, regardless of size, platform or capacity, have asingle standardized SD memory that communicates outside of the devicethrough a single set of standardized SD external contacts. A card thathas high capacity but slow speed may not be suitable for an application(such as video) calling for high speed. On the other hand, a card thathas high speed may not have suitable capacity for some storage needs.Thus, users needing both performance metrics (speed and capacity) may beleft having to purchase and carry two separate SD cards. A limitationalso exists when a user needs both a full size SD card and a micro- ornano-SD card, wherein two separate cards are required.

SUMMARY

An electronic circuit card includes a generally flat, card-shapedenclosure in which a first set of electronic SD memory circuits arehoused having a protocol following an SD card standard. A first set ofelectrical contacts are disposed externally of the enclosure at a firstlocation thereof having a contact pattern following an SD card standard.A second set of electronic SD memory circuits are provided that areseparate from the first set of electronic SD memory circuits. There arealso a second set of electrical contacts distinct from the first set ofelectrical contacts and disposed externally of the enclosure at a secondlocation thereof.

According to an embodiment, the card provides a dual SD card capabilityin a single package. Such a dual card has two SD memory circuit cardshoused in two different regions of the enclosure and each communicateswith an associated set of external electrical contacts. Such a cardprovides, in effect, two SD cards in the confines of a single enclosureaccording to the SD standard.

According to further aspect, such a dual SD card may have SD memorycards of the same or different capacity and/or speed (for example, a 256GB memory card and a 128 GB memory of the same speed; or a 256 GBmulti-level cell (MLC) memory at 12.5 MB/s and a 32 GB high speedsingle-level cell (SLC) memory at 25 GB/s).

According to a further embodiment, the SD card of full size format mayinclude a first SD memory card of the full size format housed in aportion of the enclosure and having a first set of external electricalcontacts according to the full size SD format, and may further includean SD memory card of the micro- or nano-format with a second set ofassociated contacts of the micro- or nano-SD standard.

According to a further aspect, the micro- or nano-memory card may beremovable from the enclosure.

According to a further aspect, there may be a switch that, in a firstposition, is operative to couple the first set of electrical contacts tothe first SD memory card and, in a second position, is operative tocouple the first set of electrical contacts to the second micro- ornano-SD memory card.

According to a further aspect, the SD card having the full size SDmemory card and micro- or nano-memory card may further include a batteryhoused within the enclosure in an area unoccupied by the two memorycards.

According to a further aspect, the SD card having the full size SDmemory card, micro- or nano-memory card and optionally a battery mayfurther include a printed circuit board (PCB) housed within theenclosure in an area unoccupied by the two memory cards and optionallythe battery.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and features of the invention will be betterunderstood when considered in connection with the detailed drawings anddescription, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a prior art full size SD card, with portionsbroken away;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a dual SD card according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is plan view of a dual SD card according to another embodiment;

FIG. 4A is a plan view of the card of FIG. 3 with the micro- ornano-card installed; and

FIG. 4B is a bottom view of the dual card of FIG. 4A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

An electronic circuit card according to a first embodiment of theinvention is generally illustrated at 30 in FIG. 2 and includes a cardhousing, case or enclosure 32 that conforms in outer dimensions to thestandards of the SD Association. The standard dimensions, in mm, for afull size SD card is 32×24×2.1. The standard for a micro-SD card is15×11×1.0. In the embodiment shown, the enclosure 32 follows the fullsize SD card standard and thus its outer dimensions and overallfunctionality in regard to mating with SD card-receiving portableconsumer and commercial devices is followed.

The card 30 includes a first set of electronic SD memory circuits 34.This may also be called a first SiP package, first SiP SD card, orsimply card 1, and will be understood by these terms to mean andencompass the construction and functional components required to enablean SD card to store and retrieve data according to the SD format betweenthe card and an external device in which the card is to be installed.

The SD card 30 further includes a first set of electrical contacts 36.These are according to the SD standard and thus have a predeterminedpattern and placement relative to the enclosure 32 that enable the firstSiP SD card 34 to communicate outside the enclosure with the selecteddevice (such as a computer or a digital camera or the like) and exchangedata therebetween. The contacts 36 are contained on a board 38 on whichthe SiP SD memory card 34 is mounted. The SiP SD card 34 and part of theboard 38 are housed within the enclosure 32 and occupy generally theupper half of the space within the enclosure as illustrated in FIG. 2.It will be understood that the contacts 36 are exposed externally of theenclosure 32 for engaging corresponding contacts (not shown) of thedevice in which the SD card 30 is to be installed.

The enclosure 32 has an interior space or cavity 40 in which the firstSiP package 34 is disposed. The cavity 40 of the enclosure 32 hasdimensions (in mm) of 30×21.75. The dimension of the first SiP package34 (including the board 38) has dimensions less than that of the cavity40. More particularly, the dimensions of the first SiP package 34 (inmm) are 10.1×21.35. The first SiP package 34 thus occupies less than allof the cavity 40, and may be arranged so as to occupy 50% or less of theavailable space in the cavity 40. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the firstSiP package may occupy the top half 40 a, or less of the cavity 40, withthe remaining lower half 40 b unoccupied by the first SiP package 34.

The card 30 includes a second set of electronic SD memory circuits 44that are separate from the first set of electronic SD memory circuits34, and a second set of electrical contacts 46 that are distinct fromthe first set of electrical contacts 36. The same nomenclature isunderstood to apply as used in connection with the first SiP package 36.According to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the second set of electronicmemory SD circuits is another SiP package according to the SD standard.It can be identical to the first SiP package or may be a different SiPpackage from the family of SD standard SiP packages. Included is asecond board 38 on which the second contacts 36 and second memory 34 aremounted. The second SiP package (like the first) may be housed in theenclosure 32, but in the available remaining space not occupied by thefirst SiP package 34. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the second SiP package44 preferably occupies the lower half 40 b, or less, of the cavity 40,and as such sits opposite the first SiP package 34. The second set ofcontacts 46 are external to the enclosure 32 and are disposed at theopposite end of the enclosure 32 of the first set of contacts 36. Thecontacts 46 have rotational symmetry with the contacts 36. One would usethe card 30 by connecting the first or second set of contacts with aselected device to access either the first or second SiP package. Thecard could be flipped around and reinstalled to access the other SiPpackage.

The second SiP package 46 may be the same or different than that of thefirst SiP package, meaning that the first and second SD memory cards 36,46 may have the same or different storage capacity and/or speed. Forexample the first SiP package 36 may be a 256 GB SDSC, which has astandard speed of 12.5 GB/s, and the second SiP package 46 may likewisebe a 256 GB SDSC memory of the same speed. Such an SD card thus wouldhave double the capacity in a single package size.

Another embodiment of the dual memory SD card 30 includes the first SiPpackage 36 as a higher capacity/slower speed memory card, in combinationwith the second SiP package 46 taking the form of a higher speed/lowercapacity memory card. For example card 1 may be the 256 GB carddescribed above, in combination with a 32 GB HS SLC card having a speedof 25 GB/s. This combination would give a consumer the ability to storedata such as documents on card 1, while using the higher speed card 2for photos or video—all within a single card package format. Such a cardwould not only be dual storage, but dual usage in a single SD cardbundle.

Those skilled in a the art will recognize that other combinations arepossible, with the objective being to provide in a single SD cardpackage effectively two SD cards which still conforms in size, shape,functionality and operation to the SD standard, but offers twofunctional cards in the package size of a single SD card, and the SDmemories can be the same or different capacity and speed to meet auser's needs. SDSC, SDHC, SDXC and SDUC platforms are contemplated asformats for card 1 and/or card 2 in all combinations. Other options forcard 1 and/or card 2 include SLC, MLC, TLC and QLC SD cards

FIGS. 3 and 4A and 4B illustrate a further embodiment of amulti-function SD card, wherein similar terms and understandings areadopted as used in the preceding embodiments. The card 50 has anenclosure 52 sized according to the full size SD standard and includes afirst set of electronic memory circuits according to the SD standardthat may be the same as that employed for the first SiP package 36 ofthe prior embodiments, and may further include the same first electricalcontacts 56 contained on a board 58 together with the memory card 54.The first SiP package may likewise occupy half or less of the cavity 60of the enclosure 52, and may occupy the upper half as illustrated, withthe contacts 56 externally disposed.

The second SiP package 64 differs in this embodiment from the second SiPpackage 44 of the prior embodiments in that it may have either a micro-or nano-SD card format. Micro-SD SiP cards have a dimension (in mm) of15×11×1.0. The available space in the cavity unoccupied by the first SiPpackage 54 is 21.35×13.98, which is more than sufficient than toaccommodate the second SiP package micro- or nano-SD card 64.

The card 50 has a second set of electrical contacts 66 that connect withthe second SiP package and are according to the SD standard on size andpattern (i.e., micro- or nano-SD format). The second SiP package 64 maybe permanently attached and housed non-removably within the enclosure52, or the second SiP package may be selectively removable, asillustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4A and 4B. Based on its size, the second SiPoccupies less than all of the lower half of the cavity 60.

The card 50 includes a switch 68 with leads that electrically andselectively couple the second electrical contacts 66 with the firstelectrical contacts 56. In a first position, the switch operates tocouple the first electrical contacts 56 with the first SiP package 54for transferring data to and from the first SiP package 54 externally toa selected device. In a second position, the first and second electricalcontacts are coupled and data is transferred to and from the second SiPexternally through the first set of electrical contacts.

The cavity space 60 not occupied by the first and second SiP packages54, 64 may house additional features, such as a battery 70 and or a PCB72 with a wireless module for communicating with the external devicewirelessly, such as through WiFi® or Bluetooth® protocols and/or mayinclude a backup memory module.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that the invention may be practiced otherwise than asspecifically described while still being within the scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic circuit card, comprising: agenerally flat card-shaped enclosure; a first set of electronic SecureDigital (SD) memory circuits housed within the enclosure having aprotocol following an SD card standard, and including a first set ofelectrical contacts disposed externally of the enclosure at a firstlocation thereof having a contact pattern following an SD card standard;and a second set of electronic SD memory circuits that are separate fromthe first set of electronic SD memory circuits, and including a secondset of electrical contacts distinct from the first set of electricalcontacts and disposed externally of the enclosure at a second locationthereof.
 2. The card of claim 1, wherein the first and second set ofelectronic memory circuits are disposed in physically separate regionsof the enclosure.
 3. The card of claim 1, wherein the first and secondset of electronic SD memory circuits have the same capacity and/orspeed.
 4. The card of claim 3, wherein the first and second set ofelectronic SD memory circuits have different capacities and/or speeds.5. The card of claim 1, wherein the first and second set of electricalcontacts follow the SD card standard.
 6. The card of claim 1, whereinthe enclosure is according to a full size SD card standard, the firstset of electronic SD memory circuits is according to a full size SD cardstandard and the second set of electronic SD memory circuits isaccording to the micro- or nano-SD card standard.
 7. The card of claim6, wherein the second set of electrical contacts is according to themicro- or nano-SD standard, and including a switch that is operative ina first position to couple the first set of electrical contacts to thefirst set of electronic SD memory circuits and operative in a secondposition to couple the first set of electrical contacts to the secondset of SD memory circuits.
 8. The card of claim 7 including a batteryhoused within the enclosure.
 9. The card of claim 8 including a PCBhoused within the enclosure.
 10. An Secure Digital (SD) card,comprising: an enclosure according to a standard SD card package size; afirst SiP package disposed within the enclosure; a second SiP packagecarried by the enclosure at a location separate from the first SiPpackage; electrical contacts on an outer surface of the enclosureoperative to transfer data between the SiP packages and outside of thecard through the electrical contacts.
 11. The SD card of claim 10,wherein the SiP packages are both of the SD protocol and the electricalcontacts include a first set of electrical contacts at a first end ofthe enclosure communicating with the first SiP package and a second setof electrical contacts at an opposite end of the enclosure communicatingwith the second SiP package.
 12. The SD card of claim 11, wherein thefirst SiP package has a first memory capacity and speed and the secondSiP package has a second memory capacity that is the same or differentthan that of the first memory capacity and a second speed that is thesame or different than that of the first speed.
 13. The SD card of claim12, wherein the first SiP package has a predetermined storage capacityand speed and the second SiP package has relatively lower storagecapacity but relatively higher speed that that of the first SiP package.14. The SD card of claim 10, wherein the first set of electricalcontacts have rotational symmetry with the second set of electricalcontacts.
 15. The SD card of claim 10, wherein at least one of the SiPpackages has SLC caching protocol.
 16. The SD card of claim 10, whereinthe first SiP package has a full size SD protocol and the second SiP hasa micro-SD or nano-SD protocol.
 17. The SD card of 16, wherein theelectrical contacts include a first set of electrical contacts having apattern according to a full size SD protocol and the second set ofelectrical contacts have a pattern according to the micro- or nano-SDprotocol.
 18. The SD card according to 17, wherein the micro- or nano-SDSiP package is electrically coupled to the second set of electricalcontacts, and including a switch operative in a first position forselectively coupling the first set of electrical contacts to either thefirst SD SiP package for transferring data between the first SD SiPpackage and outside of the card through the first set of electricalcontacts and a second positon for selectively coupling the first set ofelectrical contacts with the second set of electrical contacts fortransferring data between the second micro- or nano-SD SiP package andoutside of the card through the first set of electrical contacts, andincluding at least one of a battery and PCB within the enclosure. 19.The SD card according to claim 17, wherein the micro- or nano-SD SiPpackage is selectively removable from the enclosure.
 20. A multi-memorySecure Digital (SD) card, comprising: an SD card enclosure according toa full size SD standard; a first SD SiP memory according to the fullsize SD standard and occupying a first portion of the enclosure andcommunicating with a first set of external electrical contacts accordingto the SD standard; and a second SD SiP memory occupying a secondportion of the enclosure and communicating with a second set ofelectrical contacts according to the SD standard.